474 'HE PALMS OF BRITISH INDIA ANT) CEYLON ever-green jungle where it seemed to me obviously wild. The forest was virgin and not secondary growth after cultivation. The local hill-men, who do not use the fruit of the trees, declared it to be wild. I found it in fruit on 21st May 1911. The soil was a deep rich vegetable loam; elevation 3,000 feet.' (Cf. Ko. 2776 of Fischer's collection in Herb. Gale.) HISTORY. —We borrow the following* account from Watt: The betel-nut is a masticatory of great antiquity with all Asiatic races, best known as suvaka, puga, kramaka (Sansk.), fufal (Arab.). The nut is symbolical of festivity; it is accordingly a fit offering for the gods, and is an essential at the betrothal ceremony. From the most ancient times the presentation of pan has been the polite termination of ceremonial visits, liem*e the expression bira-dona—the dismissal. The best known vernacular names for the nut are—supari, ,i>'iia gaya, kasaile, marl, tambul, oka, kamuga, adike, kimsi, etc. It would seem that tlie earliest historic reference by a European to the habit of chewing betel-nut occurs in the writings of Marco Polo (1298 A. D.). 'All the people/ he wrote, 'have the habit of keeping in the mouth a certain leaf called tembul.' Subsequently Vusco da Gama (in 1498), Varthema (in 1510), B.arbosa (in 1516), Garcia de Orta (in 1568), Abul Fazl (in 1590), Liiischotten (in 1598), Frangois Pyrard (in 1(501), Roe (in 1615), Jacobus Bontius (in 1629), Bernier (365(>-68)f Vincenzio Maria (in 1672) give similar accounts.* Adams in his translation of Paulus Aegmeta refers to the Betel-nut as introduced to Materia Medica by the Arabs. He quotes amongst others the passages referring to it from A.vicenna, Haly-Abbas, Ebn Baithar, Elma- stidi, Serapion, and others. Ebn Baithar says that it is the fruit of a palm, and observes that it is a gentle purgative, makes the breath fragrant, is a cordial, and strengthens the gums and teeth. Linschotten remarks that 'the Indians goe continually iu the streets and waies with Bettele or Bettre and other mixtures in their hands, chawing, especially when they go to speak with any man, or come before a great lord/ Abul Fazl apparently never saw the palm growing, since he likens it to a cypress tree that sways in the wind till it touches the ground. This circumstance may be accepted as showing that from very ancient times, asi at the present day,